I would like to restore my emblems where the paint has faded out. What kind of paint is recommended?

I saw one post where they used the Testors Hobby Bottle paints. Would those last?

 

That is what I have used, Testor hobby paint. I always remove the emblems, wash thoroughly with Dawn several times, and then use Testor paint, & mixing if I need to get the right color/shade. I think it holds up pretty well. Probably not as good as the body paint, but reasonably ok. A clear coat top coat might be a good idea too to try one day.

 

I restored my emblems 8 years ago with Testors model paint and they still look like new. It probably helps that the car is always garaged and seldom sees incumbent weather. At this rate I see no reason they won't look like new in another 20 years. YMMV

 

 

Do you spray or brush on the Gloss Coat?

 

I never had luck with model paint. Fades in the sun pretty fast. Garage queen results may vary.

 

For the black lettering "anniversary" etc; those are the easiest to do. Use black, and don't worry about staying within the letters, you can fill them if you want; just use a rag to wipe off the excess (wipe to the outer edge though so you don't have to clean off anything else. Tester works beautifully but invest a couple of fine model paint brushes and as with body paint, layers are your friend so it doesn't glob in the corners. It's a very easy task but time consuming between thin layers of paint on the flags - DON'T RUSH.. And have some thinner in case you make an error - testers have that too, CHEAP. Post a pic when its done

 

Thanks for the info. I will pickup some of that paint next week and post pictures after I get one done.

 

I want to thank the thread starter and all that contributed...I had added all these items to my shopping cart last night then discovered this thread. You all save me $200+! I just ordered the Testors on Amazon for $8.34

 

Probably can not beat Amazon, but I went to the local Hobby Lobby and they must have had 200++ bottles of every shade you (or I anyway) could imagine.

 

 

I use Porcelain paints for glass and metal. You can find them at Hobby Lobby and Michael's Craft stores. You bake them after paint has dried to make them a PERMANENT coating...unaffected by environmental conditions. Did them on my '71 almost 10 years ago and they still look better than new.

Whatever paint you use, you need to completely strip all old paint from them. A gel chemical stripper is best and fastest, but you need gloves to keep it off skin. My process is to place the emblem horizontally on something that keeps it stable, dip a fine-tipped round artist's brush into some paint which is thin enough (or that has been thinned) so that the paint will "wick" outwards when the paint is touched to the metal. You don't actually want to 'brush' paint onto the emblem as it will leave stroke marks. If some laps up onto a 'border line', leave it. When paint has dried, it can be shaved off the border before it is baked. Do one color at a time and move/reposition the emblem for every area you are doing, so that it is horizontal and paint will flow out and not off to one side. Once the colors are dry, bake per instructions on the bottle. Let cool and install on the car.

Here are some emblems I did for a '66 Chevelle SS 396:

 

You can also thin out the testors enamels a fair amount to let them flow out and self-level. Of course you need to keep it level and let it dry longer (or use naptha or laquer thinner to speed it up some) but the result once it evaporates is a nice smooth shinny paint.
(If you do thin it out you'll need to put way more into the emblem than you think as a bunch of the liquid is just the thinner and it'll go away leaving the level lower)
M

 

What temperature do you have to bake them at? Can you use the oven in the kitchen or is it too toxic for that?

 

Believe it or not I use nail polish.. It works quite well and gives a nice deep color. So far it is holding up well. I use modeling clay to hold he emblem at the correct angle. any extra is cleaned up after everything dries.

On a side note, my front emblem had some chips to the chrome from rock hits, I assume, so i buffed the heck out of it so that the base metal shined up , improving the chrome look. I then clear coated it to try to keep everything form tarnishing and fading. Here is a before and after. Ike

 

black and white are easy colours to match.

what is the correct shade for the red on a 72 fuel door?

 

Porcelain bakes at around 300 deg. F. It can be a bit different for different colors. If I'm baking multiple colors, I'll go with the lower temp in the group. Baking at too high temp could cause some discoloration.

You can use the oven in your kitchen. Or you can buy a little toaster oven at the local thrift store to make sure the wife stays happy with your crazy hobby.

 

Went to Ace Hardware got a set of Testers gloss enamel ,cleaned all the old paint off the emblems with thinner.Than turned the project over to the wife and she repainted the emblems using a tooth pick ,they came out looking good as new.

 

Second nod to a toothpick that Sparky77's wife uses. I dipped it into the slightly thinned nail polish. Made sure that the section I was filling was level and began to drip material in that section to fill it up. Allow it to dry even before moving on to the next section. The black and white flag squares were easy but the "red" section was harder since it was not on one plane. it took a little playing to get that to come out even. Ike

 

I just used the black, white and red in a basic Testors paint kit on my emblems and was happy with the look. I did buy several other darker shades of red but never used them as I liked the basic red look. I believe the basic red might be slightly brighter then came stock or perhaps the red just fades to a darker shade after 50 years. Either way most folks will be happy with the base red. YMMV